Sunday, 3 August 2014

Book Review : 'Green Wars- Dispatches from a Vanishing World' by Bahar Dutt

As I was updated
about the release of this book a couple of months ago I looked forward to
reading this book. But later, I changed my mind to purchase this book by seeing
the inboxed images of Sarus Cranes, primates and tiger skin; as I connect myself
more to plants, trees, grass, flowers etc. Yes, you may call it as ghaans-phoos or jungle-jhaar.

A member of Indian Botanists called upon and asked
me, whether I have read the recently released book, ‘Green Wars’ by Bahar Dutt
which is on environmental issue. ‘The book covers the story of the fauna and is
not related to the flora (my area of interest)’ of India, I said. May be, the
cover page of the book and author’s fascination towards fauna, make me to think
in this direction. I was suggested to read this book and come up with a review
of the same.

What is this book about?

Photo Credit - Vijay Bedi

The book, ‘Green
Wars- Dispatches from a Vanishing World’, written by Bahar Dutt is published by
Harper Collins, India. The book has twelve chapters compressed to one sixty one
pages.

The twelve
chapters of the book are presented in the form of a chronicle of activities of
Bahar Dutt as a conservationist and as a journalist. One cannot say that it is
devoid of any scientific information or policy discussion as they are suitably
added.

She starts
narrating her journey with snakes and their hunters. It’s interesting to know
the transformation of the snake charmers community. In the words of Bahar, “This
community, once revered for its magical skills, now lived on the edge of
poverty, facing arrests and seizures of their snakes”. Later, the snake
charmers started performing in the musical concerts with their traditional
musical instrument- the ‘Been’. But
it was difficult for Bahar to attempt the upliftment of this community.

With a doubt in
her mind, Bahar shifted from conservation biologists to a journalist. Her first
significant story broadcasted on the TV channel was about Sarus Cranes. No, it
was not a documentary, showcasing the beautiful bird with cherry red neck. It
was about destroying the habitat of Sarus Crane by building an airport over it.
The author describes how the impact of broad casting abandoned the plan of the airport
in the second chapter of the book.

Next is all
about Chambal and Gharial, underlining
the serious threat to Gharials by
poachers. The author advocates the community engagement in conservation which
in this case is ‘fishermen’.

The chapter on
the threat to the forest biodiversity reminded me of my college excursion trip
to the northeast of India for understanding the geography and vegetation of the
region.

While reading
the chapters on mining which causes destruction of agricultural land; and
mining mafias, one may think that environmental journalism is not less than
crime journalism.

The author
deserves an appreciation for highlighting the conservation of less-known
animals. She selected animal species which are usually not in headlines i.e. these are not the big and better-known
animals like tigers.

Describing about
the Dibang Valley, the author mentioned that the forest here is very rich and
perhaps botanically the least explored one.

The development
project which the author has chosen for her book is moreover linked to the
habitat loss of the endangered animal species along with other ecological
imbalances.

The story of Vedanta was one of the headlines as she
narrates how the ‘politically correct’ movement by the tribal groups was
supported by the then UPA government.

Who should read this book?

Photo Credit: Vijay Bedi

Once while
assisting my professor in preparing the manuscript of the book on ‘Genetics’ in
Hindi, I asked him, whom you are targeting to read this book? “I shall be
happy, if a seventh-standard pass, Parvatibhabhi of my village could understand
at least one-fourth of the scientific theory described in the book”, he
replied. My professor was aiming to write the book in the form of stories in
simple language.

Similarly, this
book is written in a simple language which is easy to understand. The book
highlights certain important environmental issues in the form of the stories
and we all should be aware of these issues. I recommend all those who can read
and understand English to read this book which will help them to know the
illustrative environmental issue and can think about protecting the environment
in their surroundings as a responsible citizen.

Rating and comparison

I would not like
to rate or compare this book with any other text. The author has suitably embedded
the scientific facts in her story. The story presented in the book is based on
the author’s own experiences from the field visit both as a conservationist and
as a journalist. This makes this book different from any other text where we
get more of the theoretical content rather than the relevant illustrations.
Furthermore, the author has questioned, ‘How much development is enough at the
cost of environment?, which I think is an important question to address in a developing
nation like India which is also rich in biodiversity

1 comment:

Good review. Gives enough hint on what this book is about. Looks like the book is highly readable and conscience-stirring. Unfortunately I may not get time to read it; so not a bad idea to get some sense of the message which Bahar wants to convey through her book. I have all support for her cause as a conservationist.